Correct BIOS Chip Flashing equipment (Minisforum TH50/i5-11320H/16GB DDR4 RAM)

[LazyPCRehab]

I'm looking to flash a BIOS update directly to the chip of my Minisforum TH50. I cannot, for some reason, flash via the Windows tool and I am experiencing a minute long boot time.

Would something like this work?: https://www.amazon.com/EZP2023-Programmer-Adapter-Support-Compatible/dp/B0BZD7NBHJ?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A3S807LE0L63AP&gQT=1

 

1. If I brick it, I'm not losing too much (willing to risk it). 

2. Customer Support has been no help. 

3. Everything but the SSD is soldered down. 

4. I've replaced the CMOS battery, cleared everything, new install of Windows, fresh SSD. 

 

If this is the wrong sub, I sincerely apologize. I am a noob to Chip Flashing, but I am moderately tech savvy and learn quick. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you guys need more info, let me know. 

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, LazyPCRehab said:

I'm looking to flash a BIOS update directly to the chip of my Minisforum TH50. I cannot, for some reason, flash via the Windows tool and I am experiencing a minute long boot time.

Would something like this work?: https://www.amazon.com/EZP2023-Programmer-Adapter-Support-Compatible/dp/B0BZD7NBHJ?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A3S807LE0L63AP&gQT=1

 

1. If I brick it, I'm not losing too much (willing to risk it). 

2. Customer Support has been no help. 

3. Everything but the SSD is soldered down. 

4. I've replaced the CMOS battery, cleared everything, new install of Windows, fresh SSD. 

 

If this is the wrong sub, I sincerely apologize. I am a noob to Chip Flashing, but I am moderately tech savvy and learn quick. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you guys need more info, let me know. 

Can you not just flash the BIOS with a USB stick?

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, LazyPCRehab said:

I cannot, for some reason, flash via the Windows tool and I am experiencing a minute long boot time.

Have you tried the BIOS flash process from safe mode? I wonder if that would make a difference 

 

4 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Can you not just flash the BIOS with a USB stick?

Ideally the BIOS ROM file is available in itself and not .exe only. @LazyPCRehabwhat file format did you download the BIOS as?

[LazyPCRehab]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Can you not just flash the BIOS with a USB stick?

Apparently not. I will look in the BIOS again, but I don't believe it is possible with this unit. I spoke to customer service a few months ago and they told me it couldn't be done, but I can't remember if I looked through the BIOS for an option (this was kind of a sidequest, lol). 

[LazyPCRehab]

10 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Have you tried the BIOS flash process from safe mode? I wonder if that would make a difference 

 

Ideally the BIOS ROM file is available in itself and not .exe only. @LazyPCRehabwhat file format did you download the BIOS as?

That was the weird thing. They sent my a compressed file. There was an .exe for a BIOS flashing tool, which they said not to use (didn't work anyway) and a .bat and a .bin file with two .sys files. They told me to run the .bat file  (ran as admin) but nothing worked. I did not try Safe Mode. 

[Kilrah]

Open a terminal in admin mode and run the bat from there so you can see its output and any errors.

 

 

[jmwhite33]

55 minutes ago, LazyPCRehab said:

I'm looking to flash a BIOS update directly to the chip of my Minisforum TH50. I cannot, for some reason, flash via the Windows tool and I am experiencing a minute long boot time.

Would something like this work?: https://www.amazon.com/EZP2023-Programmer-Adapter-Support-Compatible/dp/B0BZD7NBHJ?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A3S807LE0L63AP&gQT=1

 

1. If I brick it, I'm not losing too much (willing to risk it). 

2. Customer Support has been no help. 

3. Everything but the SSD is soldered down. 

4. I've replaced the CMOS battery, cleared everything, new install of Windows, fresh SSD. 

 

If this is the wrong sub, I sincerely apologize. I am a noob to Chip Flashing, but I am moderately tech savvy and learn quick. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you guys need more info, let me know. 

Have you reset the BIOS to factory defaults via the "reset hole"? Page 9;

https://pc-file.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/TH50+TL50/user+manual/M09.04.TB900001+说明书TB9(TH-TL-50)+(MP+V1.0)+2022.4.27.pdf

other than that it sounds as if it should be rather straightforward to flash the BIOS, at least according to their documentation or rather lack thereof.

 

the BIOS zip file has 3 folders. I'm assuming you want to use the Win files.

https://www.minisforum.com/pages/product-info

all the batch file does is call the .exe with a bunch of switches, so definitely use the batch file

Did you put all the files in the root of the USB drive or leave them in a folder.

[jmwhite33]

man, actually that site is pretty sad, almost no real documentation and the FAQ is populated by suggestion text.

Searches often go nowhere.

Can you even access the BIOS on that box?

The manual says zero about the BIOS or settings.

 

All the shopping stuff works though.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Dont think youll even need a physical bios flasher for this one

 

This guide shows you how to neutralize intel me but the important part is the csme tools downloads, it seems to not be maintained so it only goes upto v14 but looking online theres This repo that has me v15 and v16

 

Unfortunately it doesnt have a specific thing that tells you which csme tools is for which platform but the former guide does upto cometlake on v14 so youll just have to trial and error with the two v15s and the v16 see which one works

 

The important tool is intel fpt inside the csme folder after you unzip it so just grab fpt.exe and its associated text file thing i forgot the name of (havent used it in a little while) shove it onto an msdos stick (can be created with rufus) alongside your desired bios file

 

Once you do that just boot into dos and type in "fpt.exe *filename.extension* -F" and assuming you have the right fpt version it should flash but if it doesnt it should hit you with an error something along the lines of platform not supported which is what i got after downloading 9.5 instead of 9.1 which was what i needed for my z97x soc

 

Oh and you can flash whatever the hell you want onto the bios even crossflashing so make sure to not mix up your bios files cause unbricking needs a physical bios programmer as the one you linked (i personally use a ch341a) and some basic soldering tools as those bios clips are insufferable garbage and i hate them with a passion (literally faster to solder than to use one of those inconsistent barely ever working bios clips)

[LazyPCRehab]

1 hour ago, jmwhite33 said:

Have you reset the BIOS to factory defaults via the "reset hole"? Page 9;

https://pc-file.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/TH50+TL50/user+manual/M09.04.TB900001+说明书TB9(TH-TL-50)+(MP+V1.0)+2022.4.27.pdf

other than that it sounds as if it should be rather straightforward to flash the BIOS, at least according to their documentation or rather lack thereof.

 

the BIOS zip file has 3 folders. I'm assuming you want to use the Win files.

https://www.minisforum.com/pages/product-info

all the batch file does is call the .exe with a bunch of switches, so definitely use the batch file

Did you put all the files in the root of the USB drive or leave them in a folder.

I tried the root folder and the folder setup the way it unzipped. I can't get it to do anything from inside windows or booting to the USB. Also, yes I tried every avenue for reset. 

[LazyPCRehab]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Open a terminal in admin mode and run the bat from there so you can see its output and any errors.

 

 

I will try this now. EDIT: Looks like running in the Terminal may have worked, it is currently running. 

[LazyPCRehab]

UPDATE: I got the BIOS to update via the Terminal, but it didn't solve the boot time issue. Looks like it may just be a hardware issue. Thanks to everybody for the help. 

[Kilrah]

What BIOS time do you see in task manager's startup apps page?

 

If there's a setting for RAM speed in the BIOS maybe try to reduce it... sounds like it may take long to train the RAM and for some reason do it every time.

 

Could possibly be the CMOS battery being dead, is time correct after booting? Was it always that slow or did that start recently?

[LazyPCRehab]

5 hours ago, Kilrah said:

What BIOS time do you see in task manager's startup apps page?

 

If there's a setting for RAM speed in the BIOS maybe try to reduce it... sounds like it may take long to train the RAM and for some reason do it every time.

 

Could possibly be the CMOS battery being dead, is time correct after booting? Was it always that slow or did that start recently?

I've replaced the CMOS battery, reset the BIOS, looked for every setting involving memory training (Which doesn't seem to be as big of a thing with DDR4 on Intel), and can't seem to fix it. It takes about a min to boot up. I don't think I've tried messing with the RAM speeds, will try that.